September i, 1885.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



171 



CHAPTER ON CHICKENS. 



There are (writes " Silver Pen ' in the 5. F. 

 Chronicle) two distinct mnnias at present taking full 

 possession of the dwellers iu San Francisco, male and 

 female ; Art — and— Chickens. 



There is a wide difference between the two— one lives 

 after us ; tlie other enables us to live. So I will attack 

 the latter today because the editor of this pmier (the 

 one with the maguiticout teeth) is always drumming it 

 into my esrs to " «rite sumething useful." 



Now "What does this womau, wlio writes fashion and 

 hard articles about the huinau family, know about chick- 

 ens ?" And I might auswer you, as 1 do : I know a good 

 deal more about them than you think far. Iu poiut 

 of fact, 1 am a very respectable old heuwile, aud 

 have been fouling with chickens for the l:>st 20 years. 

 I have thr^e di?tinct manias, which are always kept 

 by me at boiling point. Fi'st, a tiowiT gaideu, in 

 which I can grub acd watch the heaven-sent things 

 grow. Next, art. An 1 las-, but not least, chickens ; 

 chickens, which never lay except when eggs are 20 

 cents a diun ; chickens, which giow up to be 

 magniticent creature.", thi-n dr.ip down dead at a 

 mo'iieut's notice ; chi.'keus, which cost you double 

 what you pav in the market for them ; chickHns, 

 which are never truly a success, but still coutinuo my 

 pet mania. 



People fondly think they have < uly to get a few 

 setting hens, buy some high-priced eggs, sot the 

 same, leave them to fate, aud tben reap the beneht. 

 Alas ! mes amis, if your experience is mine, you will 

 agree with me that twin babies are iufinittly \,st 

 troubliBome, and, iu the end, far more reinuuerative 

 and recompensing, thau a whole yard lull of the 

 choicest chicks ; yet, still, we all persevere in our 

 ideas, aud go g) fruitlessly looking lorward to that 

 bright chicken luture which never comes — at least, not 

 in this city. There is no use iu talking, but this 

 " glorious climate," which rips the voice cut of the 

 singer's throat, aUo closes the eyes and kilh with 

 asthma the daiuty chick. Nevertheless, I will give 

 my experience in all humility, which may help other 

 neophytes on their onward chicken course. Jf you 

 have room in your back yaids to enter upon the 

 industry, remember it entails endless trouble. You 

 must rise early and feed your pets regularly, in this 

 first place, otherwise, if breakfast it not on time, 

 the erratic things will fly over your neighbour's 

 fence, and it is tlien always a queati in whether you 

 find iha' chicken, until he has cume out of the p)t, 

 or not, f r chicken fricjssee is a cheap dinner when the 

 next door's fowls come over uninvited. 



This is the very season for a lecture, fur now 

 the hens are all on the sit. What a pity women 

 don't take to sitting still every now and then for three 

 weeks, stopping their cackling and being at rest for 

 that definite period. But to resume. If you are 

 wise you will eschew boxes for your sitting hens. 

 Make a hole on the g'Ouod, and lay some straw 

 therein, round which you can improvise a little fence 

 of laths, while a good siz-;d box may be used for 

 a cover over the n-ist. Put within your fence 

 food and watsr, a'ld let your hen refresh herself 

 when she chooses, for I find that for the first 

 week hens only come off the nest every second day. 

 1 have had tiiem sit for four days without stirring. 

 That is their own affair, and the plan of hauling 

 a hen off her nest to make her eat is absurd, but 

 often done. To save your hens, you should sit four 

 together aud in tliis ca c make the nests close to- 

 gether and eul:irge jour fence. When the chicks 

 appear you will proh.ib!y only get 7 out of each 

 nest. 'Ihen you can give the entire flock to two 

 of the heus, aud let the other.s go in order that 

 they may commence to lay as soon as they feel like it. 



Lately 1 have had a novel experience. Out of 

 three sittings of choice eggs laid by a friend — O, 

 pardon me— I mean by a friend's hens — that's better 

 — I have got chicks, aud those I hatched partly 

 myself. In i-act, I appear to myself this week as a 

 living incubator. I had a sitting of 1,3 eggs, 11 of 

 which were duly chipped, but after wrigt;hng about 

 until the shells had all peeled, leaving the chicks iu 

 the skin of the eggs, 2 died iu that state of semi, 

 birth, and I determined to hatch the rc^t myself, 

 I therefore took the eggs and put them in a ba ketful 

 of wool, placing the same in the oven ; I then got 

 a good novel and a stool and sat by that oven all day, 

 peeling off, by degrees, the skin. I did this at the end 

 of every three chapters. I never bad a finer day's loaf 

 for many a month. In 10 hours the chicks ttruggled 

 into existence, weak .ind apparently at the 

 point of death ; but I perjevercd, and taking 

 my basket, well wrapped up in a soft shawl, 

 carried them to bed {vide the advantage of being a 

 widow). In this way I kept a sp.nrk of life in 

 the chicks, and no more. For three days they would 

 not eat neither could they stand ; but virtue ha' its 

 own reward, and the chicks now c.it and are well, 

 thank you. I put my head on the table, with a mess 

 of chopped eggs adjacent, then I m'm'c the hen ; the 

 chicks eat, and run under my chin, which for the 

 time auiwers for mother; and it is funny to see 

 these small things following me about the kitchen, 

 Ethel declines admitting them to the parlour, there- 

 fore 1 am a banished crealure. 



I have thus proved that, by taking weak eggs from 

 the hen, they may be brought ou^, and by keeping 

 them warm for a few da^s they become strong, for 

 every one is not aware of the fact that a chick raiely 

 cats anything for two or three day?. Now what is 

 the reason of the weak eggs ? I mean eggs the shc'ls 

 of which peel away. I fancy that theie must be a 

 want in the food of the hen, and also couflnemeut 

 goes far to reduce the fertility of the egg. I have 

 my own hens in a limited space, but I often let them 

 out for a run, and the eggs rarely fail. Last year j 

 had an expensive trio of Langshans, and out of three 

 sittings raised two bens. They weio too clope'y 

 confined, in my opinion The commm fowl is the 

 best for the city. They are hardier, aud the eggs 

 always turn out well — and an egg is an egg, common 

 or uncommon. To raise fine fowls it is necis'aiy 

 to feed the chicks abundantly. I keep a long run 

 for my chicks, and never let them out for two m nths 

 feeding them with chopped meat, chopped egg, boiled 

 rice, corned meal, i-c, always varying their food 

 from day to day. The rejulc is splendid chickens in 

 three months time. This method lays a foundation 

 of strength which hereafter will not be broken. 



People weary me who let their chicks run about 

 from the first, throwing them a little food twice a 

 day. Why should a chicken thrive any more than 

 a baby, if you only half feed it? Hers in confine, 

 ment should not be too highly fed. I know this to 

 my cost. 1 reared 40 of the finest buff L'ochin-China 

 hens I ever saw last year. They were enormous 

 in sizi, but the ungrateful creatures took it into 

 their heads to die all of a hop. Tliinkof it! In two 

 weeks they were all lying at the roots of the rose 

 bushes ; but I wish you could see the ros-s this ycir 

 in consequence — rosea .1 la chicken, I call th in — fine 

 aud nourishing, still, at a cost I hardly liked to pay ; 

 but this proves that there is gool iu cverylhing. Xhe 

 demise of the fowls saved the expense of miniire, and 

 I wish you had seen me picking up five or fix dead 

 hens every morning and mournfully, with cpide and 

 rake, burying my dead. 



Chickens of a much inferior mould now fill my yard, 

 and when I get 24 eggs a day, I say, What d'-es lirrcd, 

 signify? — i.e., in a town chicken yard iiei-vo me jf 



